Newport council votes to remove beach fire rings

NEWPORT BEACH Though families flock to them for birthday parties and other celebrations, the City Council unanimously decided to remove all 60 fire rings at Big Corona State Beach and Balboa.

Of the 29 members of the public who showed up to comment before the council voted Tuesday night, only nine spoke in favor of keeping the fire rings in place. Council members said they ultimately decided to remove the rings because of health and safety risks such as polluted air, danger from hot embers and child safety.

Mayor Nancy Gardner said the decision was difficult.

“The complaints have been from people who live right on the beach,” she said. “On one hand they knew the rings were there when they moved in. But I am also sensitive to the fact we have discovered new things about air quality we didn’t know previously.”

But it will take several months — and California Coastal Commission approval — before the rings can go.

Newport Beach City Manager Dave Kiff met with staff Wednesday to discuss the next steps, said Laura Detweiler, the city’s Recreation and Senior Services Department director.

“We’ll consult with both the Coastal Commission and state parks,” she said. “It’s probably a couple of weeks’ process to pull all the pieces together.”

Before issuing a permit, the Coastal Commission will have to hold a hearing. And that could take some time, said Fernie Sy, a coastal program analyst with the commission.

“It’s not a simple dock on someone’s house,” Sy said. “There’s a bigger impact on this project. It’s an amenity for the public.”

The city’s Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission was asked in September to analyze the rings and give advice on whether they should be removed. The commissioners voted 4-3 for removal.

Roy Englebrecht, commission member and one of the three who voted for keeping the rings, spoke again at the council meeting.

“You don’t just throw out the baby with the bathwater. You find a way to clean the bathwater and make it safer. In this case the bathwater was the fire rings,” he said.

Beach revenue won’t decrease because the fire pits are taken out, said Frank Peters, a resident of Big Corona.

“People will still come. People come for hundreds of reasons, but they don’t expect to be poisoned,” Peters said. “Those fires have the potential to shorten the human life span.”

Gardner thanked residents for what she called thoughtful responses on a topic they were so passionate about, and ended on a reflection of her own.

“When I was little, there were no fire rings, and I was born here,” she said. “I still have fond memories of my childhood without them.”